Murdered Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, Milorad Ulemek Legija, the commander of the Special Operations Unit and the criminal Zemun clan are connected by the operation "Sablja".
The more than stormy period from the end of the nineties and the beginning of the 2000s, with an emphasis on the assassination of Prime Minister Djindjic and the police action that followed, is described in the series of the same name.
During the weekend, November 2 and 3, the first two out of a total of eight episodes were broadcast on Serbian Radio and Television.
Authors Goran Stanković and Vladimir Tagić emphasize that it is a "dramatic interpretation of real events — the fruit of imagination and creative freedom", but also "a cross-section of the socio-political situation in the country".
The main characters are fictional, some scenes are the result of assumptions and artistic processing, but in the first two episodes we also saw several famous faces from that period.
That's why we present you a small guide through the "Saber" series.
- The series "Saber" about the murder of Djindjic and the police action was awarded in Cannes
- What if it wasn't for March 12
- What Zoran Đinđić said to the BBC a year before the assassination
Zoran Djindjic
The first democratically elected Prime Minister of Serbia is played by Dragan Mićanović.
During the 1990s and the reign of Slobodan Milošević, former president of Serbia and FR Yugoslavia, Đinđić was one of the prominent leaders of the opposition.
He was born on August 1, 1952 in Bosanski Samac.
He studied philosophy at the University of Belgrade, then obtained his doctorate in Germany.
He was one of the founders of the Democratic Party (DS), whose leader he became in 1994.
In February 1997, he became the mayor of Belgrade, leading the Zajedno coalition, but was dismissed in September of the same year.
He was a key leader of the opposition during the October 2000th changes in 2001, which is why he became prime minister in January XNUMX.
The difficult situation in the economy as a result of sanctions and isolation, the pressures of the international community for cooperation with the court for war crimes committed on the territory of more of Yugoslavia and organized crime are just some of the problems faced by the government he led.
He was killed at the age of 51, on March 12, 2003, in front of the Serbian Government building in Belgrade.
His wife Ružica Đinđić is played by Tihana Lazović, while Nikola Glišić plays Đinđić's bodyguard Milan Veruović.
- All the secrets of Zoran Đinđić's personal library
- Zoran Đinđić before politics: "He led in everything, except football"
- What was Đinđić's and what was Rugova's plan for Kosovo
Vladimir Beba Popović
In the first two episodes, the character of Vladimir Beba Popović, former associate of Djinđić, played by Marko Marković, is very active.
In the last few decades, Popović is considered one of the most influential people from the world of politics, marketing and media in Serbia and Montenegro.
He was born in 1958 in Jagodina, and graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade.
During the nineties, he led the political campaigns of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), a broad coalition of parties that overthrew Milosevic.
After October 5, he was appointed secretary of the Communications Bureau in the Government of Serbia.
He left the government after finishing "Sablja".
Not much is known about his life today.
He is the founder of the regional organization Institute for Public Policy, and in recent years he has been mentioned as an associate of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, as well as the former Montenegrin President and Prime Minister, Milo Đukanović.
Cedomir Jovanovic
The longtime leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and also one of Djindjic's close associates is played by Marko Grabež.
Jovanović was born in 1971 in Belgrade.
He graduated in dramaturgy at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade.
During the winter of late 1996 and early 1997, he was one of the leaders of student protests against Slobodan Milošević for stealing votes in local elections.
In March 2001, he directly negotiated with Milošević about his surrender and arrest, which is all described in the series "Family", where he is played by Milan Marić.
In October 2001, he was elected vice-president of the Democratic Party, but was expelled in 2004, when he founded the non-parliamentary LDP.
In the 2020 elections, this party won only 0,3 percent of the vote, and it did not participate in the 2022 elections.
Milorad Ulemek Legion
The prisoner with the most maximum sentences in Serbia.
He got his nickname because of his service in the French Foreign Legion, in the "Sabre" he is played by Sergej Trifunović.
During the wars of the nineties, he was the commander of the paramilitary unit of the Serbian Volunteer Guard of Željko Ražnatović Arkana, which participated in the conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ražnatović was a repeatedly convicted businessman, politician and president of FC Obilić.
Before the murder in January 2000 in Belgrade, he was accused before the Hague Tribunal for war crimes.
Ulemek later became the commander of the Special Operations Unit (JSO) of the Department of State Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which participated in the murder of Đinđić.
For participating in the organization of the assassination, he was sentenced to a maximum of 40 years in prison.
He was legally sentenced to 40 years each for the murder of Ivan Stambolic, a former close associate and later opponent of Slobodan Milošević.
He was also convicted of the murder of four members of the Serbian Reconstruction Movement, one of the largest opposition parties during the nineties, as well as the assassination attempt on its leader Vuk Drašković.
His sentence expires in 2044, when he will be 76 years old.
He has the right to parole after two thirds of his sentence, which will be in 2031.
- Milorad Ulemek Legion - from soldier to organizer of assassination
- "Fatal turn": From the closest collaborator to the last victim of Slobodan Milošević's regime
JSO
The final verdict for the assassination of Đinđić was handed down in 2009, when the court determined that the murder was organized by members of the JSO and members of the Zemun clan.
In the early 2000s, JSO had the status of one of the most elite units in the country.
Its members were active on all battlefields during the 1990s.
The status of the unit has always been "a very interesting legal and professional issue", journalist Miloš Vasić wrote in Vremen.
"As one experienced policeman put it, 'JSO nit' is the army, nor is the police - it is nothing but well-armed and well-paid, rude and conceited, untouchable and potentially dangerous."
"In other words, the Red Berets (one of the names of the JSO) were a paramilitary formation."
The core of the unit consisted of members of two paramilitary groups of that era - the Serbian Volunteer Guard and Knindža, it is stated in the documentary film "Jedinica".
Knindže are a paramilitary formation that participated in the war in Croatia, in the territory of Krajina - its first commander was Dragan Vasiljković, also known as Captain Dragan.
Vasiljković was convicted of war crimes in Croatia, and after 13 years in prison, at the beginning of 2020, he was released.
Speaking about JSO in November 2001, Đinđić said that they "have credit" with him.
"Who arrested Milosevic - they. Who sent him to The Hague - they.
"The question is whether this matter would have gone that way and whether the country would have been able to appear before the world as a democratic government, if there was no support from these people."
However, Đinđić then stated that "of course they are not under control, there is no dispute," and that it was true that the rebellion "was a situation on the edge."
Controversial rebellion of JSO at the end of 2001, due to the participation of members of this unit in the arrest of the accused before the Hague Tribunal, it was one of the events that caused the most upheaval in Serbia on the XNUMXth of October.
- The JSO rebellion, 20 years later: A simple protest and (or) a prelude to the murder of Zoran Đinđić
Vasić described Đinđić's cooperation with Jedinica with the words "planting pumpkins with the devil".
During the assassination, the trigger was pulled by JSO member Zvezdan Jovanović, also sentenced to 40 years in prison, played by Bojan Krivokapić in "Sablja".
After the murder of Đinđić, the unit was disbanded.
Zemun clan
In the first two episodes, we also saw several members of the Zemun clan, at that time the most powerful criminal group, named after the Belgrade municipality of Zemun, where it was founded.
In the beginning, the clan was engaged in stealing cars and selling narcotics, but its power grew year by year.
First of all, because of the connection with state structures and through cooperation with Milorad Ulemek Legija, as the commander of the JSO.
They were especially involved in the kidnapping of powerful and rich people, among whom was Miroslav Mišković, the owner of the Delta company, for whose freedom they demanded a ransom.
The leaders of the clan were Dušan Spasojević Šiptar and Mile Luković Kum, played by Bojan Navojec and Miloš Timotijević.
Spasojević and Luković were killed in the Saber operation.
The headquarters of the clan, a villa in Šilerova Street in Zemun, was demolished after the murder of Đinđić.
In the first episode, we also saw Dejan Milenković Bagzi, a former member of the clan, played by Miloš Đurović.
Milenković was driving the truck that was used to assassinate Prime Minister Đinđić on the highway, not far from today's Belgrade Arena, in mid-February 2003.
Later, he was a cooperating witness in the proceedings against Zemunac.
We also saw brothers, members of the clan Miloša and Aca Simović, played by Nenad Heraković and Marko Gizdavić.
The two were sentenced to more than 40 years in prison each.
Ljubisa Buha Chume
The former leader of the Surčina clan, later a cooperating witness against the people of Zemun.
The weekly "Vreme" writes about him that "he may not be the most controversial businessman in the history of the Serbian transition", but he is certainly the most colorful.
He was engaged in theft and resale of cars, so that during the second half of the nineties Surčinci "took a heavy footing in the drug business".
They were helped in this by Buha's acquaintance with Ulemek, whom he later introduced to Spasojević, as well as the fact that they were under the protection of the Department of State Security. journalist Dejan Anastasijević wrote in "Vremen".
In the "White Book" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia from 2001, which mentions all the most important criminal groups of that time, it is written about Surčinci that they are "the most organized international smugglers of cocaine and heroin in this part of Europe".
Buha later founded a company for paving roads.
Then there is a conflict with Spasojević and Luković, who try to kill him.
He is played by Ljubiša Miličić, while his then-wife Ljiljana Buha is played by Anđelika Simić.
He is free today.
Dusan Mihajlovic
Mihajlović, at the time of the assassination, the vice-president of the Serbian government in charge of internal affairs, had a few cadres.
In practice, the Minister of Police, a function that did not exist at the time.
He was born in Valjevo, where he was the president of the municipality.
He started dealing with politics in the early 1990s, through the New Democracy (ND) he founded.
Although it was part of the DEPOS opposition coalition, New Democracy entered the government in 1994 with Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia and the Yugoslav Left.
A few years later, Mihajlović and his ND, as part of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, participated in the overthrow of Milošević.
He held the position of Deputy Prime Minister for Internal Affairs since the spring of 2004, when the new Government of Serbia was formed.
That's when he stepped down from the position of president of the ND, which changed its name to the Liberal Party of Serbia and a few years later went out of business.
He is no longer involved in politics.
He lives in seclusion in a house at the foot of Mali Povlen, not far from his native Valjevo, writes Danas.
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